The Gratitude Salute

”, which is showing up in a nationwide campaign to acknowledge and thank our Service Members. It’s really getting around, as you can see from the number of views for this video. It looks like an ASL gesture to me – bet it is.

Maybe it will become part of our everyday behavior, and then we could use it for anyone we appreciate. What a concept! To me, it’s visual poetry.

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P.S. Just heard from my daughter-in-law, Joanne Nerenberg, who reports:

Yes, this salute seems to be derived from ASL, though slightly different. The right hand motioning forward is the same, however the ASL "thank you" begins at the mouth. The Gratitude Salute starts at the heart--which is a nice touch. It looked like a few of the folks in the video were completing their salute with the hand coming back toward the body. This is more like the sign for "gross" in ASL--the hand flipping on the belly--probably unintentional!

Psychotherapist, author and guided imagery pioneer Belleruth Naparstek is the creator of the popular Health Journeys guided imagery audio series. Her latest book on imagery and posttraumatic stress, Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal (Bantam Dell), won the Spirituality & Health Top 50 Books Award